POSTURAL BALANCE IN THE VIEW OF SELF-REPORTED FATIGUE INDUCED IN ACTIVE ELDERLY WOMEN AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH MUSCLE MASS.

Abstract

Introduction: Self-reported fatigue and muscle mass are important risk factors for falls in the elderly, however, the relationships between these two variables on postural balance in elderly women considered active need to be better explored. Information of this nature may be important for the development of actions in health education programs to reduce the risks of falls. Objective: To analyze the effect of self-reported fatigue induced by the 6-minute step test on postural balance in active elderly women and to evaluate the relationship between muscle mass and postural balance in relation of self-reported fatigue. Methods: Cross-sectional study that will evaluate elderly women (e60 years) in two stages: I) characterization of the sample, assessment of the level of physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short version), to classify active volunteers, assessment of body composition through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Then, a process of familiarization of 6-minute step test will be done. II) Execution of the 6-minute step test to promote self-reported fatigue (report e 5 on the visual analog fatigue scale), and evaluation of the postural balance with the force platform before and after the test. The analysis of the relationship between muscle mass and absolute variations of postural balance will be performed using Pearson or Spearman correlation test according to normality (Kolmogorov-Smirnov). For relationships that present significance, linear regression will be unadjusted and adjusted for age and body mass index. P<0.05 will be adopted.